Aircraft engines, including turbofan jet engines, turbojet engines, and turbine engines such as auxiliary power units, typically employ various housings for the disposal of pumps, valves, actuators, and gearboxes. These housings include bores and cavities formed therein within which shafts, gears, pistons, or other rotating or moving parts that couple to the pumps, valves, actuators, or gearboxes, are also disposed. In many cases, the engine may be configured such that a rotating or moving part contacts a surface of the housing.
During operation of the engine, the housing may become worn. For example, the contact between the rotating or moving parts and the housing may result in wear to the surfaces thereof. High pressure fluid flow through the housing bores, such as in a fuel or oil pump, may cause erosion of housing surfaces. Additionally, the housing may be exposed to extreme temperatures, which can impose stress on the aircraft engine and the housing, potentially causing wear thereon. In other examples, the housing may experience vibration during operation, which may also potentially cause housing wear.
Conventionally, housings that are subject to the above-mentioned types of wear are repaired using plating, metal spray, or epoxy-based coatings that are applied to the worn section of the housing. Although these repair techniques are adequate in some circumstances, they may suffer from certain drawbacks. For example, plating and metal spray techniques may not yield desired results, and epoxy-based coatings, because of their relatively low melting temperatures, typically are not well-suited for repair of aircraft parts. As a result, when a housing is not repairable, it is generally discarded. However, because gearbox housings are relatively expensive to manufacture, or may not be commercially available, discarding and replacing the housing generally is not a desirable solution.
Thus, there is a need for a robust and low cost wear component that when used in conjunction with the rotating and/or moving parts that contact the gearbox housing, prevents damage to the housing. Moreover, there is a need for a wear component that is easily replaceable within the housing when the component has exceeded preset wear tolerances. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.